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SIFFcast with Brett Morgen

Director of Jane

My Journey Through French Cinema

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France|2016|190 minutes|Bertrand Tavernier

A must-see for cinephiles, master director Bertrand Tavernier surveys the history of French film, honoring beloved and sometimes forgotten directors, actors, and films through interviews, personal reflections, and an abundance of classic footage.

Friday, June 9, 2017

It's hard to imagine a more perfect guide to the glories of French cinema than Bertrand Tavernier. The award-winning filmmaker began his career as a press agent and assistant director to Jean-Pierre Melville before setting out to make his own closely observed, psychologically astute films about dedicated professionals, from dogged detectives to gifted musicians. Instead of organizing 50 years of films by genre, Tavernier focuses on the actors and directors who made an impression on him, from Jacques Becker to Jean-Paul Belmondo and Simone Signoret, with a spotlight on indelible duos, like the Jean Renoir-Jean Gabin partnership that led to masterpieces such as Grand Illusion. As with 1995's A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese through American Movies, the result plays more like a freewheeling lecture hosted by an erudite and engaging professor than a staid, talking head-studded documentary (fittingly, Scorsese has proclaimed it "outstanding" and "highly intelligent"). If anyone understands that film is a collaborative medium, it's a veteran filmmaker like Tavernier who doesn't stint on the history, biography, and contributions of key crew members, like composer Maurice Jaubert and cinematographer Raoul Coutard, who helped to shape all of these ravishing visions.

Director Biography

French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier has been writing and directing since the 1960s. He is famous for films such as Coup de Torchon (1981), 'Round Midnight (1984), and It All Starts Today (1999). He serves as both writer and director for his documentary My Journey through French Cinema.

Sponsored by Alliance Francaise de Seattle, French American Cultural Society, French Immersion School of Washington, The French American School of Puget Sound, Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association, TV5MONDE

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